Abstract

The phase relations and equation of state of (Mg0.08Fe0.92)O magnesiowüstite (Mw92) have been studied using the Kawai-type high-pressure apparatus coupled with synchrotron radiation. To determine the phase boundary between the NaCl-type cubic (B1) and rhombohedral (rB1) structures in Mw92, in situ X-ray observations were carried out at pressures of 0–35 GPa and temperatures of 300–1473 K. Au and MgO were used as the internal pressure markers and metallic Fe as oxygen fugacity buffer. The phase boundary between B1 and rB1 structures was described by a linear equation P (GPa) = 1.6 + 0.033 × T (K). The Clapeyron slope (dP/dT) determined in this study is close to that obtained at pressures above 70 GPa but steeper than that obtained for FeO. An addition of MgO to FeO structure expands the stability field of the rB1 phase to lower pressures and higher temperatures. Thus, the rB1 phase may be stabilized with respect to the B1 phase at a lower pressures. The pressure–volume–temperature equation of state of B1-Mw92 was determined up to 30 GPa and 1473 K. Fitting the hydrostatic compression data up to 30 GPa with the Birch–Murnaghan equation of state (EoS) yielded: unit cell volume (V0,T0), 79.23 ± 4 Å3; bulk modulus (K0,T0), 183 ± 4 GPa; its pressure derivative (K′T), 4.1 ± 0.4; (∂K0,T/∂T) = −0.029 ± 0.005 GPa K‒1; a = 3.70 ± 0.27 × 10−5 K−1 and b = 0.47 ± 0.49 × 10−8 K−2, where α0,T = a + bT is the volumetric thermal expansion coefficient. The obtained bulk modulus of Mw92 is very close to the value expected for stoichiometric iron-rich (Mg,Fe)O. This result confirms the idea that the bulk modulus of (Mg,Fe)O is greatly affected by the actual defect structure, caused by either Mg2+ or vacancies.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Russian Science Foundation (No 14-17-00601) and Russian Foundation for Basic Research (No 15-35-20556). A. Dymshits was supported by state assignment project No 0330-2016-0006. Experiments were conducted under SPring-8 general research proposal No 2015A1496.